THE FIVE greatest West Indies cricketers of all time will be named this evening at the Scotiabank West Indian Jubilee's gala banquet at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham, England.
This function, which is expected to attract some 600 guests, is scheduled to get underway at 7 o'clock and will be recorded for broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 on Saturday evening and in the Caribbean and around the world a few days later.
The five were selected from 30 players - 26 as voted by the people of Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands, plus four others selected by a panel of experts called the Wisden Jury.
GROUP OF 30
Those making up the group of 30 are: Garfield Sobers, Malcolm Marshall, Frank Worrell, Gordon Greenidge, Everton Weekes, Joel Garner, Desmond Haynes - Barbados; Courtney Walsh, George Headley, Michael Holding, Lawrence Rowe, Jeffrey Dujon - Jamaica; Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai, Lance Gibbs, Carl Hooper, Shivnarine Chanderpaul - Guyana; Brian Lara, Larry Gomes, Learie Constantine, Ian Bishop, Sonny Ramadhin - Trinidad and Tobago; Vivian Richards, Curtley Ambrose, Andy Roberts, Richie Richardson - combined Leeward Islands and Windward Islands; Clyde Walcott, Wes Hall, Alfred Valentine, Alvin Kallicharran - Wisden Jury.
Each member of the Jury voted for his top five and the five players with the most votes will be the toast of the evening.
The 30 players were reduced to 15 a few weeks ago by the Jury and that is the pool from which the final five was selected.
The 15 players: Sobers, Walcott, Richards, Roberts, Headley, Holding, Lara, Gibbs, Worrell, Ambrose, Marshall, Lloyd, Weekes, Kanhai and Walsh.
The Jury will also announce the best individual Test batting performance in an innings and the best individual Test bowling performance in an innings since the West Indies' first Test match in 1928.
It will also announce the best one-day performance ever, batting or bowling.
Speakers at this evening's function will include Bill Clarke, managing director of Scotiabank Jamaica, Tony Becca, chairman of the Jury, Weekes, Gibbs, and Richie Benaud, former captain of Australia and a member of the Jury.
OTHER MEMBERS OF THE JURY
Other members of the Jury: Tony Cozier, Donna Symmonds, Keith Holder, Richard 'Prof' Edwards, David Holford - Barbados; Easton McMorris, Jackie Hendriks, Jimmy Richards - Jamaica; Dr. Basil Armstrong, Roger Harper, Dr. Ian McDonald Colin Croft - Guyana; Brian Davis, Fazeer Mohammed, Joey Carew, Garth Wattley - Trinidad and Tobago; Reds Perreira - St. Lucia; Arnold McIntyre - Grenada; Enoch Lewis, Hugh Gore, Ken Isaacs - Antigua; Michael Findlay - St. Vincent; Gregory Shillingford - Dominica; Charles Wilkins - St. Kitts; John Woodcock, Christopher Martin-Jenkins - England; Walter Hadlee - New Zealand; Harsha Bhogle - India.
